Born on August 8, 1987, in Motherwell, Scotland, to Han Chinese immigrants, Peter and Kar Wai Li Leung, Leung now lives at home with her father, step-mother, two brothers, and sister, after her parents divorce. Her father runs a successful restaurant in Glasgow as well as a Chinese food wholesale business. Having now finished her studies at the privately run Hamilton College, she received pass results on her high school exams. Leung speaks some Cantonese, and is interested in learning more, along with Mandarin. Her younger cousin, Sophie, currently attends Hamilton.
It was Harry Potter author J K Rowling’s desire that the part of Harry’s love interest, Cho Chang, be given to a completely unknown actress. An open call went out, looking for Asian actresses to try out for the role. Leung’s father saw an ad about the open call on the television, and convinced her to travel with him to London to try out. At the audition, the line was so long, she thought about leaving, saying she would rather have gone shopping, but stuck it out, waiting four hours for her time to come up. Her audition was over in a matter of five minutes, and two weeks later Leung was called in for a workshop, and later got the part of Cho Chang. She feels she had an edge, as she was the only one at the auditions with a Scottish accent, and it made her stand out.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe, developed a crush on Cho Chang, which required him to stare lovingly at Leung throughout the movie. Radcliffe didn’t mind too much, saying later he thought Leung was "awesome" and a "really amazing actress." Considering this was her first acting role ever, never even having acted in school plays, this speaks well of her abilities. If she herself would acquire a magic power, Leung believes she’d like to have the ability to read boys’ minds, proving she’s no different than any other teenager.
Leung has been tapped to continue the part of Cho Chang in the next installment of the anthology, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, where she’ll once again share the screen with Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. It’s in this film that Harry Potter will have his first on-screen kiss. As for Leung’s future after the movie, she isn’t sure whether she will stick with acting or pursue an art degree at the university, yet it’s clear no matter which path she chooses, she’s sure to be a success.
YUDDY
